Extruder for collapsible tubes



Feb. 14, 1967 w, KAHLOW EXTRUDER FOR COLLAPSIBLE TUBES 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 25, 1966 Feb. 14, W67 w. KAHLOVV 3,

EXTRUDER FOR COLLAPSIBLE TUBES Filed Feb. 25, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VEN TOR.

M44 MM Awzaw BY States This invention relates to paste-dispensing devices, and more particularly to a device for dispensing paste from a collapsible tube, for example, for dispensing toothpaste.

A main object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved paste-dispensing apparatus which is relatively simple in construction, which is easy to operate, and which insures economical utilization of the contents of a tube of toothpaste, or the like.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved dispensing support for a tube of toothpaste or similar paste material, the support being inexpensive to fabri cate, being sturdy in construction, being neat in appearance, and providing convenient and easy access to the contents of a collapsible paste tube mounted therein.

A still further object of the invention is to provide an improved toothpaste dispenser of the type wherein the toothpaste container is wound around a drum or roller and the contents of the container are progressively squeezed out of the container as required, the dispensing device being relatively compact in size, being easy to keep clean, and being simple to operate.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description and claims, and from the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of an improved pastedispensing apparatus constructed in accordance with the present invention.

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged longitudinal vertical crosssectional view taken substantially on the line 22 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary cross sectional view taken substantially on the line 3-3 of FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 4 is a transverse vertical cross-sectional view taken through the paste-dispensing apparatus substantially on the line 4-4 of FIGURE 2.

Referring to the drawings, 11 generally designates an improved paste-dispensing apparatus constructed in accordance with the present invention. The apparatus 11 comprises a housing 12 which is generally triangular in profile and which includes vertical parallel sidewalls 13, 13, a vertical back wall 14, a downwardly-and-forwardlyinclined front wall 15, and a relatively narrow downwardly-and-rearwardly-inclined top wall 16. The top wall 16 is formed with a plurality of generally rectangular longitudinally-aligned toothbrush-supporting apertures 17 to allow a plurality of toothbrushes 18 to be supported in vertical upright positions, as shown in FIGURE 3, with the ends of the handles of the toothbrushes resting upon the bottom wall of an upwardly-facing transversely-extending bottom trough member 19 provided in the rear portion of the bottom of housing 12 and being located adjacent to rear wall 14, as shown in FIGURE 3. Thus, the toothbrushes 18 may be supported in the manner illustrated in FIGURE 3 with the toothbrush handles inserted through the rectangular apertures or slots 17 and With the bottom ends of the toothbrushes received in the arm o supporting trough or channel 19, so that the toothbrushes 3,363,969 Patented Feb. 14, 1967 roller 21. As shown in FIGURE 3, the roller 21 is formed with longitudinal grooves or recesses 24, 24 and the sleeve 23 is formed with longitudinal slots 25 centered over the recesses 24 and being of sufiicient length to receive the crimped straight end portions of conventional collapsible toothpaste containers 26 so that said crimped ends may be locked to the roller 21 and so that the portions adjacent to the crimped end of the toothpaste container may be wrapped around the sleeve 23 when the roller 21 is rotated in a manner presently to be described. FIGURE 2 shows a toothpaste container 26 in dotted view with the crimped end of the toothpaste container, shown at 27, received in a recess 24 through a slot 25 in the manner thus described.

A transverse ratchet rod 28 is engaged through a pair of opposing inclined slots 29 provided in the sidewalls 13, 13, the rod 28 being provided at its opposite ends with enlarged head portions 38 and the rod being engaged with the peripheries of the ratchet wheels 22, 22 in the manner illustrated in FIGURE 2. Thus, the ratchet wheels 22 are formed with uniformly-spaced peripheral ratchet teeth 31 which are separated by notches 32 which face in a clockwise direction, as viewed in FIGURE 2, the transverse ratchet rod 28 engaging the edges of the wheels 22, 22 and gravitating thereagainst, being arranged to thereby allow the wheels to be rotated in a counterclockwise direction, as viewed in FIGURE 2, but being engageable in the notohes 32 to prevent clockwise rotation of the ratchet wheels. Thus, the parallel inclined slots 29 define a plane which intersects the cylindrical surface defined by the wheels 22, 22 at a substantial angle to said cylindrical surface, as will be apparent from FIG- URE 2, said plane being inclined downwardly and forwardly so that the rod 28 is biased by its weight against the edges of the ratchet teeth 31.

The front wall 15 is formed with a large rectangular window opening 33, the side edges of said opening being provided with inturned flanges 34. An integral inwardlyotfset downwardly and forwardly-inclined plate element 35 extends from the top margin of the opening 33 at the intermediate portion thereof, being rigid with respect to the top wall 16. The bottom margin of plate element 35 is formed with a relatively wide notch 36, thereby de fining a pair of triangular end lugs 37, 37, located at the ends of the notch 36.

Designated at 37 is a generally U-shaped operating lever having the side arms 38, 38 and the transverse front bight portion 39 integrally-connecting side arms 38, 38. The rear end portions of the side arms 38, 38 are pivotally-mounted on the roller shaft 20, said arms being respectively located externally adjacent to and being rotatable relative to the ratchet wheels 22, 22, as shown in FIGURE 3. The U-shaped operating lever 37 projects through the large rectangular window 33 and is directed upwardly and forwardly, as hown in FIGURE 3. The inside surfaces of the side arms 38, 38 and the crossarm 39 are formed with a continuous guide groove or recess comprising longitudinal grooves 40, 40 in the side arms and a transversely-extending groove 01' recess 41 in the crossarm 39 merging with the forward ends of the side grooves 40, 40. A generally rectangular wire frame member 42 has its side arm portions 44, 44 slidably-engaged in the side grooves 40, 40 with the trans verse forward arm 45 thereof receivable in the groove or recess 41. The rear transverse arm of the frame 42 is convoluted to define a transverse intermediate shaft portion 46 located between a pair of rearwardly-directed V-shaped loops 47, 47 with a pair of relatively small forwardly-projecting loops 48, 48 located adjacent to the respective side arm elements 44, 44. A roller 49 is journaled on the straight intermediate portion 46, as shown in FIGURE 3.

Designated at 50 is an inverted channel-shaped memher having the upwardly and rearwardly-inclined top wall 51 and the vertical sidewalls 52, 52. The sidewalls 52, 52 are provided with outwardly-extending flanges 53 terminating in upstanding vertical tab elements 54, 54 which are respectively secured to the inside surfaces of the sidewalls 13, 13 by rivets 55. The channel member 50 is thus secured rigidly between the forward portions of the sidewalls 13, 13 with the channel-shaped intermediate portion thereof located between the ratchet wheels 22, 22 and forwardly-adjacent thereto. The top wall 51 is provided with the arcuately-curved rear marginal portion 56 which curves downwardly and rear-- wardly adjacent to the roller sleeve 23. A downwardly and forwardly-inclined guide plate 58 is detachablysecured on the inclined top wall member 51, as by a fastening screw the guide plate being provided with respective upwardly and laterally-inclined side wings 60, 60. The lower forward margin of the guide plate 58 is supported on an upwardly and rearwardly-inclined transverse flange 61 integrally-formed with front wall 15, as is clearly shown in FIGURE 2. The rear transverse margin of the guide plate 58 is smoothly rounded, as shown at 63 and is located over the arcuately-curved transverse rear marginal portion 56 of member 51.

A transverse pivot rod 64 is mounted in the upper rear corner portions of the wall elements 52, 52, and journaled to the opposite end portions thereof and retained by heads 65, 65 provided on said opposite end portions are respective bell-crank levers 66, 66. The upstanding arms of the bell-crank levers are connected by a transverse roller rod 67 on which is journaled a tube-compression roller 68. The ends of the lower arms of the bellcrank levers 66, 66 are connected by coiled springs 69, 69 to the respective small frame loops 48, 48 provided in the convoluted transverse rear arm of 'wire frame 42. Thus, the coiled springs 69, 69 act to bias the bell-crank levers 66 in a clockwise direction, as viewed in FIG- URE 2, thereby urging the roller 68 toward the sleeve 23, to exert a compressive force on the portion of a paste tube 26 located between roller 68 and sleeve 23.

The inwardly-facing portion of the transverse arm 39 of frame 37 is notched away, as shown at 70, to provide finger clearance, so that the frame 42 may be, at times, retracted to move its front crossarm 45 into the groove or recess 41, which similarly retracts its convoluted transverse rear arm portion carrying the roller 49 away from the sleeve member 23, for example, to facilitate insertion of the crimped rear transverse end portion of a paste tube 26 into a slot when a new paste tube is being mounted in the dispenser.

The intermediate notch 70 provided on the rearwardlyfacing portion of rear arm 39 gives access to the transverse arm for at times pushing said arm rearwardly to cause the corner portions 71, 71 adjacent to the convoluted transverse rear arm of frame 42 to drivinglyengage with the ratchet wheel notches 32. With the frame 42 in this driving position, the ratchet wheels 22, 22 along with the sleeve 23 and roller 21 can be rotated in a counterclockwise direction, as viewed in FIGURE 2, by rotating the operating-lever assembly 37 in a corresponding counterclockwise direction. With the crimped end of a paste tube 26 secured to the sleeve member 23 in the manner above-described, this causes the end of the paste tube to be wrapped around the sleeve and simultaneously causes squeezing pressure to be applied to the rear portion of the paste tube by the action of roller 63 with respect to sleeve '23, the squeezing force being implemented by the force provided by springs 69, 69. As the tube is being wrapped around the sleeve 23 in this manner, it is urged against the guide roller 49 which thus limits upward and rearward rotation of the paste tube as squeezing pressure is being applied thereto. The squeezing pressure, of course, causes the paste material to be discharged from the open neck 80 of the paste tube.

In operation, the tube 26 is first placed in the dispenser in the manner above-described, by engaging its crimped straight transverse rear end through a slot 25 into a recess 24 of roller 21 over the squeezing roller 68. Paste can then be dispensed from the tube 26 by operating the device in the manner above-described, namely, by engaging the corners 71, 71 in a pair of notches 32, which is accomplished by pushing the frame 42 rearwardly, and by then rotating the lever member 37 in a counterclockwise direction, as viewed in FIGURE 2, causing the rear end of the tube to be wrapped on the sleeve 23 and causing the roller 68 to exert squeezing pressure on the tube in cooperation with sleeve 23, to thereby extrude material from the open neck of the tube. After the lever member 37 has been moved through one step, it can be again actuated by elevating same, the arm being allowed to rotate upwardly because of the configuration of the ratchet teeth 31, since the corner portions 71, 71 ride freely along the sloping portions of the notches 32 to allow lever 37 to be elevated while the ratchet wheels 22, 22 are locked against rotation by the ratchet action of the transverse ratchet rod 28. When the lever member 37 has been elevated to its starting position, the frame 42 may be again pushed rearwardly to cause the corner portions '71, 71 to drivingly-interlock with a pair of notches 32, so that a further portion of the tube 26 will be wrapped around the sleeve 23, with accompanying extrusion of paste material from the tube, when the lever member 37 is again pushed downwardly through another operating step. In this manner, the material from the paste tube 26 may be dispensed, step-by-step, as required, until finally the tube is completely emptied, after which it may be unwound from the sleeve 23 by manuallyelevating the ratchet rod 23 and holding the ratchet rod elevated to allow the flattened paste tube to be pulled out of the apparatus, namely, to allow the ratchet wheels 22, 22 to rotate freely in a counterclockwise direction, as viewed in FIGURE 2. Following this, a new paste tube may be inserted in the apparatus.

It will be noted that the wire frame member 42 defines a pawl means slidably-carried by and substantially coplanar with the U-shaped operating lever 37, the rear cross-arm of said frame member being drivingly-engageable with the ratchet wheels 22, 22 at the corner portions 71, 71 defined thetween the side arms 44 of the frame member and said rear cross-arm.

While a specific embodiment of an improved dispensing holder for a paste tube has been disclosed in the foregoing description, it will be understood that various modifications within the spirit of the invention may occur to those skilled in' the art. Therefore, it is intended that no limitations be placed on the invention except as defined by the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A dispensing holder for a paste tube comprising a support, a first roller journaled in said support, a ratchet wheel tcoaxially-secured to said roller, first pawl means on the support engaging said ratchet wheel and limiting rotation of the roller to one direction, said first pawl means comprising a rod extending parallel to said first roller, and means slidably supporting said rod for movement in a plane which is inclined downwardly toward and intersects the cylindrical surface containing the periphery of said ratchet wheel, whereby the rod is biased by its weight against the periphery of the ratchet wheel, means to secure the crimped sealed end of a paste tube to said roller, a generally U-shaped operating lever having side arms pivoted coaxially to said roller with the roller received between the side arms and having a transverse bight portion substantially parallel to said first roller, second pawl means slidably mounted on the operating lever and being drivingly-engageable with said ratchet wheel, whereby said first roller can be rotated in steps responsive to corresponding successive driving strokes of said operating lever, a second roller extending parallel to and adjacent to said first roller in a position to exert squeezing force on a paste tube being wrapped around said first roller responsive to repeated steps of rotation of said first roller, means rotatably connecting said second roller to said support and supporting said second roller in said position, and means biasing said second roller toward said first roller.

2. The dispensing holder of claim 1, and wherein said support includes spaced parallel sidewalls on opposite sides of and perpendicular to said first roller, and wherein said means slidably-supporting said rod comprises parallel inclined slots formed in said sidewalls and slidablyreceiving opposite end portions of said rod, said slots being located in said downwardly-inclined plane.

3. The dispensing holder or" claim 1, and wherein said second pawl means comprises a frame member coplanar with and sil-dably-supported on said side arms, said frame member having a rear cross-arm drivingly-engageable with the ratchet wheel.

4. The dispensing holder of claim 3, and wherein said frame member has a -front cross-arm extending substantially .parallel to the transverse bight portion of the operating lever.

5. The dispensing holder of claim 4, and wherein said front cross-arm is located inwardly-adjacent to said transverse bight portion.

6. The dispensing holder of claim 5, and vwherein said side arms are formed with .grooves slidably-receiving the side portions of the frame member and wherein the 30 7. The dispensing holder of claim 6, and wherein said transverse bight portion is formed with a rearWardly-facing notch intersecting said channel and providing manual access to said front cross-arm.

8. The dispensing holder of claim 3, and wherein the means rotatably-connecting the second roller to said sup port comprises a pair Olf bell-crank levers pivoted to the support and having respective upstanding and torwardlyprojecting arms, the second roller being journaled between the upstanding bell-crank-lever arms, and the means biasing the second roller toward the first roller comprising respective coiled springs connecting the forwardly-projecting ibell-crank-lever arms to the rear cross-arm of the frame member.

9. The dispensing holder of claim 8, and a third roller journaled on the intermediate portion of said rear crossarm and being engageable with a paste tube being squeezed between the first and second rollers to limit upward and rearward rotation of the paste tu be.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,530,327 12/1950 Derrick 222-401 2,652,950 9/1953 Major 222- 3,214,064 10/1965 :Raiiha 222-98 3,233,784 2/1966 Gordon 22298 FOREIGN PATENTS 203,936 6/1959 Austria.

ROBERT B. REEVES, Primary Examiner. N. L, STACK, Assistant Examiner, 

1. A DISPENSING HOLDER FOR A PASTE TUBE COMPRISING A SUPPORT, A FIRST ROLLER JOURNALED IN SAID SUPPORT, A RATCHET WHEEL COAXIALLY-SECURED TO SAID ROLLER, FIRST PAWL MEANS ON THE SUPPORT ENGAGING SAID RATCHET WHEEL AND LIMITING ROTATION OF THE ROLLER TO ONE DIRECTION, SAID FIRST PAWL MEANS COMPRISING A ROD EXTENDING PARALLEL TO SAID FIRST ROLLER, AND MEANS SLIDABLY SUPPORTING SAID ROD FOR MOVEMENT IN A PLANE WHICH IS INCLINED DOWNWARDLY TOWARD AND INTERSECTS THE CYLINDRICAL SURFACE CONTAINING THE PERIPHERY OF SAID RATCHET WHEEL, WHEREBY THE ROD IS BIASED BY ITS WEIGHT AGAINST THE PERIPHERY OF THE RATCHET WHEEL, MEANS TO SECURE THE CRIMPED SEALED END OF A PASTE TUBE TO SAID ROLLER, A GENERALLY U-SHAPED OPERATING LEVER HAVING SIDE ARMS PIVOTED COAXIALLY TO SAID ROLLER WITH THE ROLLER RECEIVED BETWEEN THE SIDE ARMS AND HAVING A TRANSVERSE BIGHT PORTION SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL TO SAID FIRST ROLLER, SECOND PAWL MEANS SLIDABLY MOUNTED ON THE OPERATING LEVER AND BEING DRIVINGLY-ENGAGEABLE WITH SAID RATCHET WHEEL, WHEREBY SAID FIRST ROLLER CAN BE ROTATED IN STEPS RESPONSIVE TO CORRESPONDING SUCCESSIVE DRIVING STROKES OF SAID OPERATING LEVER, A SECOND ROLLER EXTENDING PARALLEL TO AND ADJACENT TO SAID FIRST ROLLER IN A POSITION TO EXERT SQUEEZING FORCE ON A PASTE TUBE BEING WRAPPED AROUND SAID FIRST ROLLER RESPONSIVE TO REPEATED STEPS OF ROTATION OF SAID FIRST ROLLER, MEANS ROTATABLY CONNECTING SAID SECOND ROLLER TO SAID SUPPORT AND SUPPORTING SAID SECOND ROLLER IN SAID POSITION, AND MEANS BIASING SAID SECOND ROLLER TOWARD SAID FIRST ROLLER. 